President Joe Biden will no longer travel to Jordan on his high-stakes Middle East trip after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas canceled a meeting with Biden and Arab leaders over a rocket attack on a hospital in Gaza.
The White House confirmed that the Jordan portion of the trip was canceled as the president boarded Air Force One en route to Israel.
The meeting between Biden and Abbas was also expected to be attended by King Abdullah II of Jordan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
“After consultations with King Abdullah II of Jordan and in light of the days of mourning announced by President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, President Biden will postpone his trip to Jordan and the planned meeting with these two leaders and President Sisi of Egypt.” a White House official said.
The official added that the president “expressed his deepest condolences for the innocent lives lost in the hospital explosion in Gaza, and wished a speedy recovery for the injured.”
President Joe Biden boards Air Force One to depart for Israel. He was also scheduled to stop in Jordan, but the Palestinian Authority president canceled the meeting after an explosion ripped through a hospital in Gaza
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has canceled his meeting with Joe Biden, canceling Biden’s summit with Arab leaders, which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday in Amman, Jordan.
Images of Tuesday’s attack on a hospital in Gaza, which the health authority, controlled by the Hamas terror group, said was an Israeli attack, while the Israeli army said it was hit by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad military group
“He looks forward to meeting personally with these leaders soon and agreed to remain in regular and direct contact with each of them in the coming days,” the official added.
The meeting with Arab leaders was scheduled to take place in Amman, Jordan.
A senior Palestinian official said Abbas returned to Ramallah, the seat of his government in the occupied West Bank, before Biden arrived.
They should have spoken in the wake of the horrific October 7 attack on Israel by the Gaza-based terror group Hamas.
But Abbas is withdrawing in protest against an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Gaza hospital, which Hamas health officials say killed hundreds of people.
According to the Health Ministry, an Israeli airstrike hit the hospital in Gaza City, which was packed with wounded people and other Palestinians seeking shelter.
If confirmed, it would be by far the deadliest Israeli airstrike in five wars since 2008.
But the Israeli military denied responsibility and said the hospital was hit by a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
An Israeli Army spokesperson said: ‘An analysis of IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing close to Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza at the time it occurred. was hit.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, Jordan on October 17, 2023. Abbas is expected to return to Ramallah, the seat of his government in the occupied West Bank, in the aftermath of the deadly attack . hospital attack
“Intelligence from multiple sources we have in hand indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch that hit the hospital in Gaza.”
Abbas declared a ‘three days of public mourning and flags at half-mast.’
The local health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said hundreds had been killed.
Images on social media showed fire engulfing the wreckage.
Several hospitals in Gaza City have become havens for hundreds of people after Israel ordered an evacuation of the city and surrounding areas ahead of an expected ground invasion.
The ground invasion is a response to last week’s horrific Hamas attack that killed more than 1,400 Israelis.
Rescue personnel are working on site at Al-Ahli Hospital
An injured man is carried outside Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said there were still no details about the hospital deaths.
He said: “We will get the details and inform the public. I don’t know if it was an Israeli airstrike.’
That came after Israeli airstrikes killed dozens of civilians and at least one senior Hamas figure on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Palestinian security forces in Ramallah fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse stone-throwing protesters.
US officials tried to convince Israel to allow the delivery of supplies to civilians, aid groups and hospitals in Gaza.
Joe Biden and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shake hands after a statement in Bethlehem last year
However, a top Israeli official said his country demanded guarantees that Hamas terrorists would not seize aid deliveries.
The head of Israel’s National Security Council said access to aid was also dependent on the return of hostages held by Hamas.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with leaders in the region in recent days.
They have told him that the situation following Hamas’s atrocity threatens the stability of the entire Middle East.
Biden will likely hear the same thing when he meets the leaders of Jordan and Egypt — but not Abbas — in Amman on Wednesday.